The Doggy Bag: The Injury Edition

A ‘Rush’ Back to the Top?

The recent run of big stars getting hurt has me wondering: are
there any fighters coming off of injury that you think might have a
rough go of things? It strikes me that so many fighters getting
hurt are either UFC champs or high-ranked contenders. That means,
when they come back, they will be facing Top 10 opponents. Is there
a fighter in the group of recent injuries that you think could
really struggle to come back? Georges St.
Pierre and Dominick
Cruz are both athletic wrestlers who had knee injuries.
Jose
Aldo gets hurt a lot. Daniel
Cormier keeps breaking his hands, and he has not even gotten to
the UFC yet. Who do you think might be the biggest victim of this
injury bug? -- Daniel from San Francisco

Brian Knapp, features editor: Of all the
high-profile fighters who have been bitten by the injury bug, I am
most concerned about St. Pierre. Because of the advances in modern
medicine, people are too quick to write off such injuries as
routine occurrences. For common folk like you and me, perhaps they
are at times. For a professional athlete whose fate hinges on the
ability of his body to function at almost superhuman levels, the
consequences of a torn anterior-cruciate knee ligament remain quite
serious.

If St. Pierre meets Carlos
Condit in a planned unification bout in November, 19 months
will have passed since he last set foot inside the Octagon. That is
a long time. More importantly, he turned 31 in May. By most
standards, St. Pierre now finds himself nearing the backside of his
competitive prime, meaning physical skills like speed, flexibility
and reaction time have probably already begun to erode. As a
martial artist who leans so heavily on his wrestling, St. Pierre
invariably relies on his lower body. If that knee does not return
to full strength, or least something comparable to it, he will be a
different fighter.

Could St. Pierre maintain his level of excellence? Certainly;
driven men tend not to go away quietly. However, injuries like the
one he sustained force us to consider the possibility that he may
have seen his better days. The days of defending his title against
the Dan Hardys of the world are probably over.

Through wildlife programs on Animal Planet and National Geographic,
the public has come to understand the fate that awaits the old
lions of the world. Inevitably, younger ones rise up to take their
place, and an injury oftentimes accelerates the process.